clutch flush

[s.ga.rider]

So reading on here it seems no different than the brakes. I bled them on my 2014 and went to flush the clutch and I could not get any fluid to come out of the slave. I tried both methods of pulling the lever and then using my mighty vac and couldnt get anything out. Is their a trick to this im not aware of?

 

[Top Ten]

In general there is no difference in bleeding a clutch v. brakes. There is no trick to it. Assuming your clutch works properly as it is, and you first opened the bleed valve on the clutch about a quarter of a turn, you must have some type of blockage in the valve. With the valve open, does it feel like you are still actuating the clutch in a normal fashion? You may need to completely remove the valve and inspect to make your it is not (A) blocked or (B) it was manufactured properly. You'll need to take the valve and clean it and make sure you can pass air or brake fluid through it. If that doesn't solve the problem then I guess it is possible you have a blockage in the slave unit.

If you completely remove the valve you will lose brake fluid and possibly introduce air into the brake system. You'll need to bleed the system adequately to insure all air is eliminated.

 

[RCinNC]

Try to reverse bleed the clutch, and see if you can push fluid into the bleeder valve, rather than pulling it out. Reverse bleeding is how I've started doing my clutch fluid flush, and it works easier for me than using the brake lever or Mity Vac to move fluid through the system.

 

[s.ga.rider]

Yes when I opened the valve and pulled the clutch it was no different so it may be blocked. No issues with the clutch. I got the bike a month ago and was just servicing it as I don’t know what’s been done to it.

 

[s.ga.rider]

I’ve never reverse bled anything. May be worth trying but I will remove the bleeder first to make sure I don’t push something up

 

[EricV]

Perhaps someone installed a speed bleeder?

 

[Don in Lodi]

If fluid gets on the motor paint don't leave it there for more than a few seconds. Water rinses it off well.

 

[SkunkWorks]

So reading on here it seems no different than the brakes. I bled them on my 2014 and went to flush the clutch and I could not get any fluid to come out of the slave. I tried both methods of pulling the lever and then using my mighty vac and couldnt get anything out. Is their a trick to this im not aware of?

I ran into this exact same issue when I installed a longer clutch-line.
When I went to flush/bleed the clutch system I could not get any fluid to exit the reservoir to come down the line. I tried every combination of flexing the lever/releasing the lever.

The final thing I tried was take the pivot-bolt out and remove the lever entirely.
This allowed the piston to retract far enough to open the port, and fluid started to flow down the line.
I'm not sure why that is? But I was able to properly vacuum-flush/bleed the system after that.

 

[Don in Lodi]

Nice tip Alan.

 

[s.ga.rider]

I will try that lever tip too. Thanks

 

[MattR]

I’ve found that using a vacuum bleeder pulls air in via the threads on the loosened bleed nipple. So I put 5 wraps of ptfe tape around the bleed nipple threads which stops it. The problem was I couldn’t tell if the air bubbles were being pulled in from outside or were being expelled from inside. Might be worth checking the bore of the clutch slave. I checked the slave of my other bike at about 15k miles and it was shot! I replaced it with a Oberon slave and the difference was amazing. My S10 clutch is a bit notchy now as well so I’ll pull it apart when i do the summer strip down. Unfortunately Oberon don’t seem to make one for the S10.


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[Top Ten]

Try to reverse bleed the clutch, and see if you can push fluid into the bleeder valve, rather than pulling it out. Reverse bleeding is how I've started doing my clutch fluid flush, and it works easier for me than using the brake lever or Mity Vac to move fluid through the system.

The only reason I did not recommend that in this case is because if he does have some debris blocking the bleed valve he will push that debris in to the system rather than out.

 

[RCinNC]

I suggested that more as a test to see if the bleeder itself was functional. If he couldn't push fluid in, and couldn't pump it out, then I figured that would isolate the problem to the bleeder itself. He's planning on flushing the system anyway, so if the reverse flush determines the bleeder is faulty, he can remove the bleeder entirely and drain the system. If debris is clogging the bleeder, then pushing debris out of the bleeder isn't a big deal: there's already debris compromising the system, and that debris will need to be removed...by flushing the brakes.